'Buy No Rhinos' - Year 6

On the morning of Thursday the 1st of October, the year 6’s were visited by two young women on a mission. Their names were Ness and Vicky. Ness and Vicky are two sisters who are a VERY long way from home because they came from Cape Town, South Africa.

Many months ago, they heard of a project called DOT - Do One Thing. Unfortunately in their home country they currently have a BIG problem. And that problem is…. poaching.

Rhinos, which are native to Africa and Asia are being gruesomely killed for something, that actually is pretty useless. They are being killed for their horns.

So, these young sisters decided to act. They decided to do one thing….. cycle 6,000km from China to Singapore in order to raise awareness of and encourage people to stop killing rhinos for their horns. People are selling rhino horns to make medicine, party drugs, and jewellery because many believe that rhino horns can cure illnesses such as cancer; however this is a complete superstition and is DEFINITELY NOT true. Rhino horns are actually made from keratin - the same material as your hair and finger nails.

Ness and Vicky have been stopping off at schools along their journey to try and encourage children to spread the word. We need to get people to know that they must stop buying rhino horn because if they don’t, rhinos will be rapidly made extinct. Stop the trade - stop the killing was just one of their slogans; along with ‘Buy no rhino’.

The Year 6 children were incredibly interested in all of the facts the two sisters shared with them. After the presentation many questions were asked. The children showed their determination to persuade other people to stop buying rhino horns by giving their signature to the two sisters’ book. This was a declaration that they want the trade to stop! When the sisters return to South Africa, they will present this book to the government in order to encourage them to work harder with other countries to protect the rhino.

We can all have a voice in this. We can all help to stop the trade and support Ness and Vicky in their important campaign!